Graymatter interface Technonogies is also just the subsidiary that sell these devices on the civilian market. Other parts of the Mega Corp. does the R&D, makes the military versions etc. This company will only be used for the backstory and as a red herring.

To use a gun analogy: It's like finding a revolver next to a dead body and their first clue is that Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson have something to do with it.

Well, at the least (dependant, perhaps, on the specifics of your characters and setting) I would expect some ribald jokes, given that "woman with whip" is, I believe, close to shorthand for "dominatrix".

Whether this is a problem I leave to your decision. ;)

On the other hand, I don't think that I really take "duplicity" from "the Woman with the Whip" - to me that connotes open ruthlessness and a sense of driving one's subordinates rather hard.

As to alternatives, the following come to mind:
It perhaps comes with its own issues, but you might have "the Hyena"
"Ms. Knife-in-your-back"
"Ms. Backstab"
"Janus with a Knife"

It would almost certainly be perceived as insulting. Though, I suppose that often is the entire point of giving a politician a nickname.

Alternatively, there's the classic 'Iron Lady', which first took off with Margaret Thatcher but has since been co-opted for all powerful women operating in otherwise male-dominated industries.

Another option would be to go with a poisonous flower motif such as 'Belladonna' since such flowers are often beautiful yet dangerous.

Overall, the cleverest thing for you to do is to try incorporating part of the character's back story into the nickname. For instance, if she or her family was involved in construction, using the word 'stone' as part of the nickname would be especially fitting.

Hope that helps.

P.S.:
Just had a thought... what are your thoughts about the 'Duchess of Masks'?

I've been trying to give one of my characters a good name, but I can't think about anything. Something associated with light and origin/projection through Light Magic (his elemental affinity and his powers, respectively), maybe. No, he isn't a Deity/God/Demi-God. I just nicknamed him "Lighty" for now, but he needs a better and definitive name.

Hi, I could use a little help coming up with some good insults that this race of fish people I have can throw at one another. I already have pretty much thought of their one equivalent to the extremely forbidden words used by humans (ex. Dutch's "kanker," "cunt," etc.), but I would love some good ideas of lesser swears/insults. One I'm looking for in particular is a good "fish-person" equivalent to "chav."

Well, the one that immediately comes to mind is "Gilligan", but that just sounds a bit silly, as no-one is going to take a racial slur seriously if it's in a TV-series' name. But perhaps that could be used as a very mild slur, or kind of a N-Word Privileges thing.

I'm using it for a rich, blonde Alpha Bitch. The last name needs to sound classy/aristocratic but at the same time feminine when used on its own as my protagonist will be on Last Name Basis with her. Ideally, a French or British last name would work best for my setting though I reckon I can make any nationality work and her appearance can easily be changed to better suit it.

At the moment, I'm considering either Katherine de Chartreux (giving her a cat motif) or Katherine St Clair. However, neither of them have 'clicked' with the character and so I'm open to suggestions.

So, I'm trying to come up with a name for this subspecies of humans of sorts whose main function in life is to attract all the bad lack, agony, pain, misfortune, etcetera from the main guys by channeling it all towards themselves. Now, since I don't really want them to be what I call a "Lemming Species", or a species whose purpose is to have lots of babies and die. So they would also be, more or less, invincible in the sense that Wile E. Coyote or Tom is invincible. Yes, immortal, but still very, very, very much injurable.

But anyway, the main name I thought of was Schadenfreud (shah-DEN-froid), for obvious reasons. But it just sounds a bit... I don't know, it just doesn't sound right. Any suggestions?

YOU'LL PAY FOR THE WHOLE SEAT, BUT YOU'LL ONLY NEED THE EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDGE!!!

I've been thinking about sin eaters lately, their function was similar - to absorb sin from the dying or dead so that they could go to heaven unburdened. Perhaps you could take something from that, like Eaters maybe. Not very catchy though.

There's also the similar Greek and Judaic practice of 'scapegoating' or casting someone out as a symbolic bearer of misfortune, and that has some neat associated terminology like Pharmakos and azazel.

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